{"You really made things more difficult for me…"}
Seele's other self muttered.
She looked at her surroundings. The number of aircraft that flew past her head exceeded three digits.
Twenty-five days have passed since their arrival to this world. An hour ago, the streak of crimson flames appeared.
Seele did not carelessly go into the meditative state. She took out the late second grade concealment talismans and placed it around her. A total of ten of them floated around her.
Then, by using an auxiliary technique, these talismans can be turned into a talisman formation.
Taking account of wear and tear, this concealment talisman formation can last for half a year at best.
Unfortunately, the Sea of Quanta's influence eroded it. After two more days, it will completely collapse.
With the bunch of military forces flying above them, Seele's other self knows they are in trouble.
Seele can't wake up.
{'Why is it her and not me?'}
No matter how much she called out, Seele could not break out of her meditative state. The combination of the Sea of Quanta and immortal cultivation formed an unbreakable meditation state that rapidly increased her cultivation realms, with the sole exception of her mind.
It would have been a good opportunity if not for the dangers around them; both outside and Seele's own special state.
Swoosh-!
A faster 'jet' went past them. Along with it is a quick scan of spiritual consciousness…
{'..!'}
Moments later, a white-haired girl appeared out of nowhere. The concealment array set up with the talisman formation served no purpose to her.
"Seele!"
{'It is her…'}
Kiana's spiritual consciousness scanned Seele. She also scanned her surroundings and made sure there wasn't anything unusual.
"...Hey."
{"..!"}
"I know you are there."
{"...Seele is fine. It is just we cannot move her from this position."}
Seele's other self was not particularly surprised when Kiana knew of her existence. She knew the might of a cultivator's spiritual consciousness first-hand. It is impossible for her to hide under Kiana, who is also a higher-leveled cultivator than her.
She began to explain what happened to the two of them.
"...It is my fault…"
Kiana muttered as she looked at the 'sleeping' girl.
"But… I cannot give him to you... just like that. The others, too."
{'...'}
The atmosphere around them reached a freezing point.
"This is not the time for that."
She shifted the topic from that.
"You say, you are here for almost a month? Only five days passed outside…"
*****
It has been an hour since I came to this world. My arrival caused a lot of changes outside.
I only dreamt of it before… meeting Kalpas.
With my spiritual consciousness, I earned the front-seat of Kalpas beating up presumed Fire MOTH operatives. There have been two waves of attacks within the sanatorium, with Kalpas beating them up each time.
Kalpas is a special Flamechaser. Before he was even a MANTIS, he had the capability to match one. He fought against MANTIS Sakura on equal-grounds without having the MANTIS' body.
The difference became clear with a quick look.
People can be differentiated into Qi Refining Realm and 'mortals'. The former are those whose bodies can be compared to cultivators in the early stage of Qi Refining. Their bare-bodies are strong enough to compare to B Rank valkyries without any battlesuits.
On the other hand, the latter are those whose strengths are below the Qi Refining Realm. They are anywhere below C Rank Valkyries with battlesuits.
Kalpas' body is comparable to the Qi Refining Realm; the rest are mortals. The one-sided massacre resulted in Fire MOTH's soldiers being beaten up.
The secrets on him did not end there.
My [Encompassing Eyes] peered at the secret of his real strength…
{Nature of Energy: Imaginary Energy (Converted, Differentiated)}
Imaginary Energy is the base form of honkai energy. The latter is merely a "variant" of imaginary energy.
The only problem is its high level.
How can someone with the physique of Qi Refining withstand it?
Just then, I noticed Kalpas turned his gaze to my direction. My brazen acts with spiritual consciousness did not elude him.
I withdrew it afterwards. I did not care if he sensed it or not.
Without anything to do, I spent my time analyzing Kalpas' uniqueness. It served to reason that direct usage of imaginary energy leads to instant death. However, his body seems to be able to hold on.
It might have something to do with his heart. I can remember Mobius taking it out.
That means his power has a high upper limit. Only, his body could not handle it. That led to Mobius removing his 'heart' to turn him into a MANTIS.
In hindsight, that nerfed his power's upper limit to 60 to 70 percent. This did not matter as Kalpas could only unleash around 30 to 40 percent of them in his pre-MANTIS state. As a MANTIS, his ceiling became higher at the cost of his burst potential being lowered.
My deductions grew longer as both honkai and cultivation knowledge were brought together. All of this happened while five of my other techniques are being automatically comprehended inside the [Xinhai Sutra]'s mysterious space.
The mysteries of Honkai, Imaginary Tree, Sea of Quanta, and Immortal Cultivation…
My daze continued until someone touched my arm. Countless new knowledge and conjectures filled my head. My perception over the eleven Dao Seeds I possessed increased noticeably.
I opened my eyes.
Pardofelis' panicked look filled my sight. She attempted to grab my wrist, to which I touched hers.
"Boss! We need to go!"
I had a hunch.
"You slept for ten days!
I knew it.
Without Welt's alarm clock, my skewed perception of time came to play.
I did not reply to her immediately. I scanned my body. A burning sensation ran through my veins. I felt more powerful despite the injuries from before.
Unlike before, I did not eat its meat, but rather, its Demon Core. Eating it alone is tantamount to courting death. However, the auxiliary technique, [True Spirit Devouring Manual], allowed for it.
The auxiliary technique's sole purpose is to help the practitioner absorb the demon beast's power for oneself. I easily condensed my thirteenth supernatural seed, the Dao of Life.
The power contained within the low fourth grade Demon Core is so huge it still retains more than 90 percent of its power. Still, that 10 percent is enough to help my body recover and raise its realm.
A third of my physical strength is recovered. It will take twenty more days to fully heal it. By the time it does, I will reach the forecasted peak of Purple Mansion Realm body realm; the Demon Core made it a sure-thing.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't be able to absorb its power swiftly. The Nascent Soul level flames of Shamash made it possible. Being injured is the fastest way to raise one's body cultivation.
The gap of two major realms almost cooked me literally. It is no wonder my absorption rate became so fast.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
More soldiers from outside barged in. Pardofelis' panicked look is a sight to behold. I don't know why she hasn't left me, much less allowed herself to be caught by these soldiers.
"Hands up! Do not make any unnecessary moves."
A dozen or so soldiers pointed their rifles towards me.
"B-boss!"
"Ha…"
I snapped my finger.
Snap-!
My spiritual consciousness extended outwards. A shockwave was sent to the soldiers' heads.
Thud-!
The dozen soldiers here and the other hundred outside all lost consciousness.
I looked back at Pardofelis and met her shocked gaze.
My attempt to show off (i.e., aura farm) ended successfully.